Cristales 1

Kimberly Cristales

English 115

November 2, 2020

Final Project Text Essay (Graded)

The start of 2020 was life changing due to Coronavirus and the mass murdering of inno-

cent black life. The reason I state this is because I’m a student at CSUN and I witnessed and

heard all the mass murderings of black women and men by white police officers. This led to a

huge peaceful protest, which included multiple races of middle age adults and young adults. The

rally was peaceful until a police officer decided to be ruthless and use tear gas. They also used

brutal force to shut down the voices of these people who want justice and who want police offi-

cers to be more alert and stop the mass killing of black lives. John Lewis was in the same posi-

tion as we are today back to 1960 where Segregation was a huge problem between Whites and

Blacks. John Lewis was the 5th U.S. House of Representatives for Georgia’s district. During his

younger years as a child working at a farm, John heard over the radio about Martin Luther King

Jr.’s excellent work about fighting Civil rights. As John Lewis grows up he matures and begins

to consider civil rights and does hard labor for tuition. He was a major organizer of the Student

Nonviolent Coordinating Committee because he and three other peers were being discriminated

against at a diner. John Lewis uses his past knowledge and his personal experience about Segre-

gation to transform his suffering by following God.

John Lewis grew up believing in God, he believed in faith and peace for all human be-

ings. John Lewis as a child used to gather all his chickens in a circle and he began to preach

about the word of God to the chickens. In the comic book called March by John Lewis, he told
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his audience that when he was a kid, he used to go into the chicken coops and preached to them

while they slept. “I would get them all into the henhouse and settle them on their roosts. I would

preach to my chickens just about every night”(Lewis, March, 27). God spoke to John Lewis at a

young age and would influence him for the rest of his life. Growing up John always followed the

word of God and John always obeyed the Bible and God's sayings. John would say to himself,

“if the spirit said walk, if the spirit said picket — “I’m gonna do what the spirit said do. Without

our faith, we wouldn’t have been able to succeed” (Kim Lawton’s interview). John's faith with

God was extraordinary were he followed God's word, without him following God he wouldn't be

able to succeed to be the great activism leader he is. During John Lewis' time of activism he

questioned many times about God. He’ll ask for wisdom, knowledge and sometimes John will

lose faith in his God at times. “And we would ask questions about what Jesus would do”(Kim

Lawton’s interview). Lewis’s faith was being tested by God to see whether his faith is still

present within him. After God guided him along the way, he was positioned to be leader of the

activism group of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for Civil Rights. As the fight for

Civil Rights was being realized by many races, John recognized his life not as different from the

other Civil Rights leaders. “But, in a sense, the movement, Martin Luther King Jr., and these oth-

er religious leaders who led the civil rights movement, they not only rescued many of us but they

also saved us and made us better human beings” ( Kim Lawton’s interview). He accepts his life

decision from doing the right thing for Civil rights and being happy with the results that many

lives are going to change for John fighting for ending segregation.

Life has changed for the better but the suffering will always be there. Suffering is what

every human being goes through no matter what circumstance. “So it would seem that there is no
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way to escape the suffering that prevails everywhere”(Richard, The Alchemy of Suffering, pg 37).

Human beings have to suffer to get to a position they want and this is a clear example of Lewis.

He and his people of color suffered from being discriminated against by whites. Life will never

go the way you want even on how hard you’ll work and how much faith you have in God. Bud-

dist don’t believe in God but have a different perspective on God and suffering. “ According to

Buddhism suffering will always exist as a universal phenomenon, but every individual has the

potential for liberation from it.”( Richard, The Alchemy of Suffering, pg 37). Suffering stops until

an individual achieves their goal and Lewis likewise reached this goal to stop segregation but

every other individual has to fight their own problem of segregation to finally put a stop to it.

The end of suffering can occur and peace can be achieved but we can't let problems

overwhelm us. “Likewise, peace is a treasure of the mind that is not acquired without effort. If

we let ourselves be overwhelmed by our personal problems, no matter how tragic, we only in-

crease our difficulties and become a burden on those around us” (Richard, The Alchemy of Suf-

fering, pg 41). Suffering is a life process but the influencing that John lewis created for the soci-

ety which was a great impact from his time as leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating

Committee to the 5th congressional for the district of Georgia. John's fighting ability and his

word of wisdom is what kept him and other individuals fighting even though a lot of suffering

was caused but they fought till the end for Civil Rights. “Do not give up, do not give out, and do

not give in. We must hold on, and we must not get lost in a sea of despair”( Batten, Vol.6 3rd).

John had the will to continue fighting for what was right and caused a chain reaction with the

people to have peaceful protests. The fighting that John did inspired many congressmen. “In

March 2003, Lewis led a group of fellow representatives and other politicians on a ‘Civil Rights
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Pilgrimage’, a tour of significant sites in Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma, Alabama”(Bat-

ten, Vol.6 3rd). Doing all this to accomplish the Civil Rights for blacks and creating an image to

the congressman, these places are the hot zones where the majority of the fight for Civil Rights

were taken place. The Civil Rights Act was established by John officially by 2004 to 2008 where

Barack Obama was the first African American to be the 44th President of the United States.

Showing that the peaceful protests Lewis did was not for waste and that Black people had a great

opportunity to do great things in the United states. “Later that year, Lewis was re-elected to Con-

gress in the 5th District of Georgia”( Batten ,Vol.6 3rd). After Obama was elected president The

people wanted Lewis again to be the 5th Congressional of the United States Representative of

Georgia. Lewis has accomplished great things during his time and made historical events to not

be forgotten.

The time has come that America adopts the Declaration of Independence that every man

and woman are created equal and should be enforced for anyone who decides to violate this Law.
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Work Cited
Lawton, Kim. “Kim Lawton’s interview: John Lewis extended Interview.” PBS.

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2004/01/16/january-16-2004-john-lewis-extended-

interview/2897/ Accessed 16 January 2004.

In text Citations:

(Lawton, Kim Lawton’s interview)

"Lewis, John Robert." Gale Encyclopedia of American Law, edited by Donna Batten, 3rd ed.,

vol. 6, Gale, 2011, pp. 326-329. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/

apps/doc/CX1337702670/OVIC?u=csunorthridge&sid=OVIC&xid=8b151d11. Accessed 6 Nov.

2020.

In text Citations:

(Battern,Vol.6 3rd)

Ricard, Mattieu. The Alchemy of Suffering. https://canvas.csun.edu/courses/80419/files/9933271?

module_item_id=3016790

In Text Citation:

(Ricard, 37)
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(Ricard, 41)

Lewis, John. March. Top Shelf Productions. 20 January 2015.

In text citation:

(Lewis, 27)